Sokka: Detective
by Gunwild
Summary: Toph talks Sokka into playing detective - but is he up to finding a girl's long-lost relative in a city the size of Ba Sing Se? Or how about the mystery of the faulty carriages? Or the haunted school? Complete stories collected together.
1. The Separated Sisters

Avatar: The Last Airbender: "The Separated Sisters"  
By Gunwild

--

Ba Sing Se was all around him, but he might as well have been alone in the wilderness.

Sokka was presently quartered in the second room on the second floor of the first building of the Baking Quarter's main street. The scratched-in number '221' over the inner door was the only trait that set it apart from the other cheap rooms nearby. At all hours of the day and night it smelled like hot bread, which might have bothered him if he were more aware of his surroundings. Instead, he lay bent in his easy chair, bottle in hand, drinking and trying not to think.

The bottle was full of water, but that wasn't the point. The crushing disillusionment was. He didn't eat. He didn't leave for anything. Sokka merely stared at the ceiling, ignoring his life and wondering if he could ever possibly get over the pain.  
They didn't tell you that heartache was literal. It was as though someone had actually reached into his chest and done damage to him. The regular twinge was similar to bruised ribs, but deeper.

If only there was some kind of armor for this, he thought dolefully, taking a swig of his not-so-adult beverage. He could have worn protection before ever talking to Suki on that unhappy day. He could have been prepared for her frank questions about seriousness and long-term plans and where he wanted them 'to go.'

He really just wanted them 'to go' get some lunch, and had said as much, which was of course the wrong thing to do. She had looked profoundly disappointed in him, and then… and then…

How could she want to be 'just friends' now?

Oh, he would never understand, and that was that. Women were not creatures of level logic. They asked clear questions but gave no clear answers. Their idea of romance didn't obey the laws of reason – action and reaction, transference of energy, inertia. Why did the world have to be full of problems that didn't have simple answers?

It seemed like forever Since Sokka had been faced with a proper dilemma and arrived upon a solution. But with the shortage of giant drills, city invasions, gas-filled mountains and threatening airship fleets going on there was little to task a young man of his skills. So now he was an 'idea guy' with no idea what to do next. That wasn't ironic. It was just sad.

He didn't sit up quickly when the knock came at his door. Immediately he began considering it in the form of analysis, just to work out his brain.

_The knock is sharp. The visitor is using their knuckles. This suggests someone with strong hands because people with weaker knuckles will avoid stressing them. I doubt it's someone of advanced age 'cause it's been wet out and their arthritis would be acting up – they'd punish their fingers. Also, the knock is from a low position on the door, as far as I can tell from the echo. It's definitely a child, and not one shy about making noise on someone else's door late at night. Yes, that indicates rudeness, familiarity, or both – who do I know who fits the bill, and with access to the people who know I'm here?_

Unable to keep himself from smiling in spite of his melancholy, Sokka raised a finger. "I deduce that my caller is none other than Toph Bei-"

His door fell down as she kicked it in, screws flying out of the hinges, and then stepped on top of it. Toph was wearing nicer clothes than he was accustomed to seeing her in, though the frustrated expression was familiar. "Why didn't you say that earlier? I must have waited twenty seconds out there!"

The gaping Sokka smacked his forehead. "Why did you think that meant you needed to break my door?!"

"What if you'd been kidnapped? Nobody knew why you disappeared!"

"I didn't disappear! I told Aang and Katara where I was going, and now I… look, that's not the point, what are you doing here?"

"My parents took me to a fancy banquet."

Sokka blinked. "I deduce that you left right away because you hate stuff like that."

"That's not deduction; I skip out on that kind of stuff all the time."

"True." Sokka swilled his water as though it were of some fine vintage before sipping thoughtfully. "Then, instead, I deduce you left after the soup but before the main course, and used the excuse that you wanted to get some air." He tapped his teeth, eyes darting around for more indications. "The banquet was on an above-ground floor and you came here by open-top carriage. You sat on the right end of the back row and paid with one of your silver bracelets."

Toph was given pause. Then she sat down on the floor, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "You saw me?"

He shook his head, but, remembering that she couldn't see him, said "No, I've been here."

Her ability to recognize when someone was lying put Sokka in the clear. "Someone told you how I came?"

"Not at all."

Toph lifted her chin. "All right then, how'd you do it?"

"Deduction, like I said. You left after the soup arrived because the soup's the first thing served at one of those fancy meals, and you were hungry because it's late. I can see the fold in your cuff where you had your arm on the table and dripped on it. But the soup was no good, so you decided to leave and find me to make sure you didn't eat alone 'cause you hate that. You've got soil on the hem of your dress – not dust like regular walking might put there, but rich brown soil from a garden, the kind overlooked by a balcony in an upscale home. The balcony you jumped from only to soften your landing with earthbending." Some of these were things he thought might be presumptions on his part, but her reactions bore them out; he grew bolder in his telling, adding hand gestures. "As for the carriage, even you might not enjoy trying to find your way that to an unknown address in the Outer Ring from the Inner one, where the rich people live, so you called one down. You were sitting in the back row because the floor would be the top of the metal wheel well, which you could manipulate to amuse yourself. Your gown's got no pockets and no catches in the sleeves for coins, and you're only wearing a single bracelet, the other being what you paid with – your mother would never take you out to a party wearing just one. I know you sat on the right side because you have some down on your left, and the carriage birds are molting this season. It's only natural that some feathers would waft back and land on you."

Toph stood, turned around, then violently pointed and opened her mouth as if she was going to accuse him of something, stopping just to look pensive again. Finally she shrugged and conceded the point. "You're pretty good at that."

"I know," Sokka groaned now that he was done analyzing. "It's awful."

"What?" Toph waved her hand, trivializing his obvious discomfort. "No, it's a neat trick. Stop complaining about it to get attention or stop doing it at all."

"But I can't!" he whined. "I can't stop thinking! When I was trying to stop the Fire Nation things were fine, there was stuff to worry about every day. With Suki it was easy because I had to worry about how to keep her happy, but if I haven't got that…"

"You'll get over it," scolded Toph, prodding him in the chest. "Now get up and clean this place."

"You're going to help me clean?" This hardly fit with his experience of Toph's attitudes on cleanliness.

"No, you're going to clean and I'm going to sit here. At least you'll be doing something, right? Wasn't it better when you did stuff just now?"

"I… yes." In fact it had been helpful to put his brain to a chore or two. He could imagine doing it again – and it would be no small work to think of how he could make these shabby quarters presentable without the proper equipment. "Hm. The door will need its hinges reattached, I can do that with some of the screws from the one to the bathroom. I don't have any cloth but if I use the label from one of my water bottles the windows will be easy to clean. And the-"

"Sokka?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't care."

"Oh."

As he got to work, Toph drummed her fingers on the wall, thoughts of dinner forgotten in her interest at her friend's new predicament. So he needed things to do, eh? That was a problem she'd encountered as well – not surprising, for two creatures like them who'd fought a war and were now at a loss for one. He needed mental stimulation, she needed action. Places to go. Things to 'see.' Some fights to get into. Around the time he began beating dirt under the rug with his shirt, Toph straightened up and threw her hands in the air. "Sokka!"

"What?"

"I've got it! The solution to both our problems! You could be a…"

"Detective?"

She crossed her arms, tilting her head to one side interestedly. "How'd you know?"

He threw his shirt over one shoulder, placing his fists on his hips. "It was a very superficial line of thought, Toph. You might even say it was_ elemental_."

Toph tried not to smile at his awful, awful pun.

By the time Toph returned next morning, clad in attire more comfortable, she found herself in a changed room with a changed man. While she couldn't appreciate the painting, the new furniture and real drapes were nice touches. Sokka himself fairly bounded from his desk, clapping his hands. "Toph old girl! Capital to see you, really top drawer!"

"Why are you talking like that?"

"Well, I have a business now, from time to time I should speak as though an entrepreneur of some sincerity, don't you know." He raised something to his mouth and blew into it; it turned out to be one of those soap bubble pipes you could win at a fair. Why he thought that gave an appearance of sincerity was anyone's guess. "Further, I ought to use verbiage of a gravity befitting my new raiment!"

"Raiment?"

"_Clothes._ I'm wearing new clothes." He could be heard to brush his own sleeves in pride. "Checked pattern, reminds people of how exact and organized I'll be on their cases. And I've got my lens-holding earpiece. The hat it came with was a bit too large to wear all the time, so I designed a whole new style of cap – one with two bills! The one in the back will keep the sun off my neck."

Toph sat in the easy chair off to the side of the desk. "I didn't know you had such a sensitive neck." She then coughed in a way that sounded considerably like the word 'wuss' before continuing. "Still, you can't get too excited. Being a detective isn't something you walk into right away. It's going to take time and work before we get clients."

"We?" He sat himself back down.

"Sure. I'm your assistant."

"Right, of course. I do suppose I need a plucky assistant."

"What? I've never plucked anything in my life! Except my toes, I guess." She went to work on these as she talked.

"It means 'brave,' Toph. But that's not what we need to concern ourselves with. The fact is, after running around putting homemade posters on every wall in town last night…"

"Did you draw them yourself?"

"Yes."

"That might not be the best idea, from what I've heard."

"Shows what you know. This morning a messenger came telling me to expect a client just a few minutes from now."

Toph's attention turned fully away from cleaning her feet, for once. "A messenger?"

"Yes. Evidently our first customer has money to spend on that kind of… extravagance." He nonchalantly blew some more bubbles towards the window. "Speaking of extravagance, I think I hear them coming now."

"I don't hear anything," put in Toph, who was a talented listener.

"Oh, but I think you do. You're just not _deducing_ from it. That tinkling in the road is the sound of a metal harness on an ostrich-horse-drawn carriage, and all the local ones tend to use regular ropes. That one is our rich guest."

Sure enough, a minute later there was a knock at the door. Sokka grinned. "Enter, young lady!"

The young lady – for indeed, she was such – was quite pretty, if rounder than most, and dressed in the finest of clothes. She wore bone white from head to toe, the color of mourning among the people of the Earth Kingdom, and her eyes shone with sadness to match. Sokka immediately dropped his smile in the face of a damsel in distress, but still had the happy thought that this boded to be something interesting.

"Hello, sir," she said with perfect politeness and a small bow. "My name is Kin. I'm seeking the help of a detective."

"Yes! Please, take a seat." As she did so, he said immediately, "I'm sorry about the loss of your mother. I can only hope the generous inheritance she's left you can make the transition easier; it can't help that your father isn't with you."

The heiress appeared startled. "Sir, how did you know all that?"

"Your clothing explains that you're deeply saddened by this loss; it's typical for only close family members to wear funeral garb outside of the actual funeral. I would have thought that you were young enough that one of your grandparents had died, but your fresh tears seem to say that the death was unexpected and you still haven't had time to get over it. Your haircut is, without disrespect, inexpensive, while your clothes are superior, suggesting that you've only recently come into wealth.

"It doesn't take much to guess that this was probably though the inheritance from your dead relative, and that you spent some of it right away on the funeral. I knew it was your mother and that you have no father because, as I'm aware, when a mother dies a father typically becomes overprotective of his female children, not allowing them to go without a guard to strange rooms in the poorer part of town. But you had a thrifty mother, and only recently came to realize that she had money stored away. That's why you wouldn't think of it as dangerous."

"It seems simpler when you say it that way," she admitted, "But still, you've missed one thing – the inheritance isn't as helpful as I'd like it to be. In fact, it's what's brought me here today."

"Go on," Sokka said with an encouraging half-smile. "I'll do whatever I can to help."

"Well," she began, "It was only a week ago that my mother, who was the hostess at the Third Tree restaurant, fell seriously ill. She had been rather sick for some time and hidden it from me – that was her way, to be very proper, to keep calm and carry on. But it became so bad that she couldn't complete her duties, and I saw to her during her final days. Just before she died, her breathing was awful, but she decided to make a last declaration to me. I thought it would be simple sentiments, but it was more – she told me a story. I'll never forget how she put it.

"'Kin,' she told me, 'I've always said that your father died, but that isn't true. He was actually just an awful man, and when you were still a baby he walked out on both of us. But he took more than himself away; he also took your sister.'"

Toph raised her eyebrows. Sokka had already folded his hands and begun contemplating. "Please, go on."

Though choked up, Kin pressed through. "She had to stop to gather her breath, but I knew she was going to finish the story. She wouldn't let herself die until she had. 'You were lucky that you were the one who was fussing, because I slept with you in my arms that night; he stole your sister away from the crib and left without a word. No guard I asked for weeks and weeks told me he'd left the city, but I don't think he would. I was almost sure that he stayed, but it's such a big place I didn't expect to ever find him. And I was afraid. Even after he was out of my life and I was able to make my fortune I've never spent it in case he were to come back and try to hurt me, to take it from us. And so I have no idea where your sister could be – I can never hope to reunite the pair of you, who were separated when you were just a year old, but when I'm gone please put on my grave that I was mother of two, Kin and Jin, and loved two until I died.'"

They allowed her a pause to cry at the end of her obviously emotional story, with Sokka shutting his eyes in thought. "And you're sure those were close to her exact words?"

"Very sure," sniffled poor Kin, "They were the last I heard of my mother's voice."

"I see. Well, I take it you want us to aid you in finding your sister?"

"Yes. I want to split the inheritance with her, to let her know how much her mother loved her, even though she didn't raise her."

He sat up straight. "That's inspiring stuff, and I've already devised a plan to find your sister that unless I'm really wrong, will work like a charm."

Miss Kin appeared apprehensive but pleased. "You have?"

"Yeah," Sokka replied, raising his bubble pipe cheerily. "I'll ask you to go back to your home and send your messenger to each of the news pamphlets in the Outer Ring. Ask them to print for the evening edition a call for all young ladies named Jin around your age to come to your house tonight at five bells. Say it's so that we can determine which'll claim the large inheritance. Be sure to mention that point. Large inheritance."

Toph's lip immediately twisted in a frown. "Sokka, if we do that every Jin in town is going to show up. Plus women not named Jin who just want the cash. It'll be a huge lineup of every local teenage girl there is."

"Precisely," chuckled Sokka. "You might say I'm counting on it."

A silence followed. "You're not just becoming a detective to find a new girlfriend, are you?" Toph probed cautiously.

"No! Look, just trust me – if this plan doesn't work, I'll be very surprised."

But the only one who was surprised was Kin's unfortunate housekeeper. The old woman very nearly tried to invite the dozen girls who showed up to the sitting room for tea, and it was only through the protestations of the recently-arrived Toph and Sokka that the door remained shut.

As a half-hour passed yet more young ladies arrived, and a few thereafter, until the entire street outside was full of talking, milling 'Jins.'

"Sokka," said Toph, "Don't you think that's enough? There are almost a hundred of them out there."

Still dictatorially puffing his bubble pipe while staring out the window, the newly-minted sleuth shrugged. "I guess, but I want to allow enough time for the ones from across town to arrive. It stands to reason that a runaway husband would try to put some distance between himself and his wife."

"Whatever your plan is," Kin whispered, "I hope you don't wait too long. The police might have a problem with such a large gathering."

Hoping not to lose his livelihood to the officials on his first day in practice, Sokka nodded. "Okay, I guess we can start."

"So what's the plan?"

"I'm going to find the one that looks like Kin."

Toph shook her head. Kin looked terrified. "But sir, even if she is my sister, she might not resemble me enough to-"

"Don't worry about that," Sokka said with a pat of her shoulder. "I've considered that angle. Now, if you'd excuse me…" And with that, he threw open the door and shouted to the assemblage, "Everyone! Single file in front of the door, please! No pushing, and we'll be able to get this thing going."

He barely had to say the words before all of the eager, apprehensive or greedy looking women lined up perfectly, with only a little jockeying for position. Some were much younger or much older than the client; some even appeared to be from different nations. From the door Kin could only see a few, and Sokka walking past them, barely glancing at each in turn. After less than a minute he halted and exchanged words with one. Toph could be observed straining to hear them, and then while clasping her arm, Sokka walked his chosen girl directly back up the street towards them.

Kin gasped. Toph's guard went up. "What? What is it?!"

"She's my exact double!" exclaimed the first separated sister, eyes agog. The second, a copy in every way but for her green dress and pigtails, was also stunned.

Slyly, Sokka made his introduction. "Miss Kin, I'd like to present you with your twin sister, Jin of Fountain Street. She says she was raised by only her father, now deceased, and likes tea very much. Isn't that nice? Your housekeeper should get her some."

When they had all sat down and the twin girls had caught their breaths, Kin related her story to her newfound sibling in hurried, shaky tones. By the time she was done Sokka was raring to go over his work.

"It was all a matter of listening, really," he crowed. "Or, to be more exact, deducing from what I'd listened to. In the first place, Miss Kin's late mother said that she was treated badly by her husband, and was unable to make her fortune. It stood to reason that he wasn't the best worker, and wouldn't move up in life. So I knew we should use the pamphlets to find the daughter_ in the Outer Ring._ Surely she'd show up. But the real question was how to know which Jin she was – which would take care of itself. I knew you'd turn out to be twins."

"How'd you figure that?" asked Jin, enthralled, though not enthralled enough not to drain her teacup while she talked.

"Easy. Your mother also said a few things that gave it away, and in fact Kin might have realized herself with a few weeks more consideration, when her grief passed.

"For one, the separation happened when you were one year old, Kin, and your sister was still in a crib. That puts it in the realm of probability – both being babies at the same time, both young enough to be 'fussy' and have to sleep with your mother. But what clinched it was when she called you a 'pair,' and of course your names."

"'Kin' and 'Jin'" muttered Toph, hitting herself in the head. "'Silver' and 'gold.' I should have picked up on that one."

"It's normal," Sokka reminded them all, "For identical twins to have rhyming or themed names. That made me sure, and so I asked for this big turnout of Ba Sing Se's Jins without worrying."

"But, and begging your pardon if the question is foolish," gushed Kin, "What if her father had changed her name to keep from being caught?"

"Oh I didn't feel concerned," he answered, shrugging. "It's a common enough name, and besides, when most fathers leave their families, they don't take a child. No, he had a lot affection for Jin, and wanted her to himself. He kept the name just like he kept the baby." With a toast and then a triumphant chugging of his entire hot cup of tea (his face turned red, but he smiled just the same) Sokka stood. "It's time we left you two to catch up with each other, I think. No payment's necessary for now."

"But we can barely thank you enough!" Kin protested. "I've found my sister, and I can share what I got from my mother with her."

"And I can help my sister when she's just lost her mom." Jin bowed. "It's great work you did here, really great."

"I know," he allowed, looking smug. "And be sure to tell plenty of people about it. Word of mouth would be a good way to get new cases. I just might drop in for tea sometimes, since I stink at making it – but other than that, the diversion was its own reward to me. And Toph's rich, so don't pay her either."

"Hey!"

"Oh save it, you are. Anyway, come on, Toph, there's always more thinking to be done for more people. And ladies, I'll take this opportunity to bid you good day."

Toph followed him out, sighing. "So that's it? You're not going to watch them reunite tearfully for a while, at least?"

"Eh, not my place. Besides, I don't think they're going to cry. They're gonna smile. A good sister – even if you think you don't know her that well – can really help you out."

This he said, and this he meant. There was no way for him to know that just a few hours later, a girl named Katara would be throwing her late edition news pamphlet down in disgust and vowing to right what she saw as a great wrong that her brother was doing the city.

Written by Gunwild  
Created by Bryan Konietzko & Michael Dante DiMartino  
This fanfiction not produced for profit  
Avatar: The Last Airbender and related indicia are the property of Nickelodeon


	2. The Carriage Caper

Avatar: The Last Airbender: "The Carriage Caper"  
By Gunwild

--

Toph had been lodging for several days in Sokka's new Baking Quarter office, sleeping on his spare mat and not really caring what her parents made of it. It served them right for trying to pull her back into the very society she'd gone out of her way to leave. You'd think after saving the Earth Kingdom and ending a century of warfare they'd respect her for herself, but no – she was still treated like a child who was expected to make nice at parties and act like she cared about hulusheng music.

Her host was better company, at least when he was kept busy. While outfitting himself for his new trade or sprucing up the place, Sokka would be his normal wily self, cracking wise and killing time with her like the old days. In the evenings, however, he would wind down, retreating into his easy chair to mope and stare at nothing, eventually fading into sleep.

At these times Toph would heave a sigh, throw a blanket over him and think to herself that if her friend didn't catch a second case soon, he would drop back into the depression she'd recently found him in. For a little while he had been lively and positive, but it seemed like the worse he got the less interested he was in getting better.

It was just as the sun and Sokka's humors were going down for the day that a great clamor came from the street. It wasn't the sound of a fire brigade rushing to work or a cart tipping over, but rather the noise of dozens of sets of wooden wheels clacking on cobbles. One or two of these were to be expected because of the usual carriage traffic in the metropolis, but so many at once brought the entire street to its windows to stare.

At least twenty ostrich-horse cabs were parked outside, the drivers trying with mixed success to leave enough room for through-traffic. The men prodded their animals gently so that they stood on the sidewalk, or else bothered only with cleaning each other and not passersby. Sokka described the scene to his young assistant, who alerted him when she sensed a body hurriedly ascending their staircase. A moment later there entered a lanky young fellow with crop and uniform, bowing only slightly before launching into speech. "Are you Mister Sokka, the detective?"

"That's my name," he declared, puffing out his chest so that he looked like a large, preening bird himself. "And my job. What can I do for you?"

"Well it's like this, sir," the coachman said, not bothering to take a seat, "I represent…"

"The Trade Society of Drivers and Grooms, I'd imagine," Sokka supplied. "And I understand if you're in a hurry, since at this time of day you've gotta get the cabs back to the depot so the night drivers can go on shift. That's what I've heard, anyway. Skip the formalities; just give me the facts of the case."

"Very true, yes sir, I'll do that, sir." Glancing around as he took a place in the chair young man whipped off his leather hat. "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware there was a lady in the room."

"That's no lady, it's only Toph."

"Hey!"

"Look," Sokka went on with some irritation, "I said we're not worried about you being polite."

The young driver shook his head. "Oh, but I can't be rude, Mister Sokka. The Company, you see, the Ba Sing Se Coach Company, is very strict about the conduct of its drivers. One slip-up and they dismiss you straightaway, they do."

Sokka nodded sagely. Although large, accessible bending-propelled trains ran throughout the city, carriages were considered the more 'civilized' way to travel because they were private and clean – and of course, cost more money. Ba Sing Se Coach probably wanted to keep that prim image in people's minds. "Well, if you can be both polite and quick, like you would with an emergency fare, that'd be fine."

"Yes sir. Well, it's this; the boys and I are a good Trade Society, watch each other's backs, eh? We have to take care of each other when the Company is treating us wrong. This time, though, the Company is living up to its end of the bargain, as far as we can tell, but someone else is setting us up for trouble."

Putting his feet up on his desk, Sokka donned his lens-carrying earpiece. He set his magnified gaze on the visitor. "So you don't even know who's troubling you… interesting…"

Toph leaned against the wall, not quite hiding her satisfied smile. Yes, this would do just fine.

"Yes sir. We're being sent off, fired one by one, and it's all because our carriages keep breaking down."

"Do you think it's sabotage?" Toph inquired. Sokka nodded, flipping his lens over. That seemed a likely enough explanation.

"No sir – uh, ma'am, no. It's the maddest thing. All the breakdowns seem to be caused by the usual sort of wear and tear; an old axle or rust under the door hinges – one fellow's whole front seat just fell off because the nails had come loose. But it's impossible!"

"I'm guessing you mean the frequency, not the failures."

"Exactly, sir. You expect a carriage or two to give out every week, and they have to go to the wheeler's as often as that, but every day now they're falling to pieces and we haven't the foggiest why. It's been going on like this for almost a month."

"Hm." Sokka stood, looked down at the assembled coaches with his lens and raised his finger. "I notice that all your cabs are numbered. Does each driver get the same one every day?"

"No sir. We try to get the same ostrich-horses from the grooms so's they know us and heed us, but the carriages we share. They're all the same old make, anyway."

"I can see that." Sokka glanced over his shoulder. "One more thing. If the carriages break down through 'wear and tear,' doesn't the company take the responsibility?"

"Yes sir. We aren't even charged for the time. But…" the young fellow reddened slightly, "It's the customers. If you break down on them sometimes they can be quite mean. And if one of the boys raises his voice back, he usually loses his job. That's our real problem, Mister Sokka. These breakdowns are causing arguments, and arguments are getting us canned. The Company's men are even giving us speeches, telling us to be more like the night shift drivers. They don't have near as many breakdowns."

"Ah." Sokka snapped his fingers. "Very good. I'll take the case."

"That's good, sir," the cabby replied. "We've pooled our money and-"

"Whatever you're thinking of giving me, cut it in half," he said. "And only pay me once the work's finished. I'm not going to start charging people if I can't find results."

The astounded young fellow bowed. "Thank you, sir! And a good night to both of you!" He seemed eager to escape before his good fortune changed, and in the street could soon be heard a cry of "He's charging us half!" that was responded to with cheers. The cheers, naturally, spooked the ostrich-horses, which raised a ruckus for some five minutes before they were all herded off the thoroughfare and back towards their stables, leaving dusty tracks and feathers in their wake.

"That's a weird one," Toph declared, scratching her head right through her bun. "Their stuff's breaking, but like it's just worn out? Maybe they're using it too hard."

"I'm going to try to trust their professionalism," permitted Sokka, "At least for now. Besides, I've already got one theory about this crime."

She hopped up onto the desk, swinging her feet. "So it's a crime, then? Not just shoddy workmanship or whatever?"

"Oh I think you'll find it's both, plucky assistant." Sokka busied himself with cleaning his two-billed hat and finding his clay bubble pipe. He was obviously gearing up for adventure.

"Is there some criminal carpenter in the city, then?" She asked with excitement, imagining some sinister-looking soul with a saw intentionally churning out dangerous products. Giant bookcases that would fall on people, or chairs that broke your back, maybe. Now that was interesting.

"Oh, I doubt it. In fact I think the masterminds behind this scheme aren't inside Ba Sing Se at all – but that'll become obvious with a little time. What's important is that we get right to the next stage of the investigation."

"Which is what?" Toph raised her fists in anticipation. Maybe this time there would be a good throwdown, or at least a rough interrogation.

"Sleep."

"What? That's not exciting!"

"No, but it's necessary if we wanna wake up around midnight. That's when we'll be able to begin our operation. It's why I've got my stuff ready."

Toph gradually began nodding. "Yeah, I get it… you think the night shift is behind this somehow."

"Good, but you shouldn't get your conclusions just by following me." As he tucked the brim of his cap over his eyes to start resting, he grinned. "See if you can't figure it out for yourself. It'll be good for you."

Although not pleased at being left out of Sokka's theorizing, Toph was not about to ignore a challenge. She spent hours lying on her mat, going over the evidence again and again, trying to work out how it properly fit together. But all she got out of it was a feeling that once he had a case, Sokka might not need a plucky assistant at all.

--

"Up and at 'em," he said some hours later, bringing her out of unpleasant dreams. Toph rolled to her feet, yawning. "We're heading out. Bring your best, because I think we're gonna to need your special talent."

The girl tried to hide how pleased she was at the opportunity to be helpful. "Which one? Burp-singing?"

"That's a good one too, but I mean seeing through the ground. Anyway, let's move." As they departed through the front door, Sokka grabbed a note that had been jammed in the mailbox. He twisted it carelessly open, squinting at it by the lamplight while assuming a position leaning against a wall. Evidently they weren't in as much of a hurry as Toph had thought.

"Hm. It's from Katara. Seems she wants to meet with me at my 'earliest convenience.'"

"That could be important. 'Earliest convenience' sounds nicer than it usually is."

"I'll say. I think she's mad at me. She wrote it while gripping the brush really hard, so the letters are kind of jagged. Maybe I'll take her some soap as a peace offering."

"Soap?"

"Well, there's a smudge down here. Her left thumb got ink on it, and that's a real hassle to get off. You know, I never thought of it before, but this detective stuff, it can really be helpful in regular life. I'm making a lot less dumb decisions lately."

Toph tapped her foot and rolled her unseeing eyes. "Did we come out here for you to play with paper, or are we going to work on the case?"

"We are. In fact, I'm going to guess that what we're looking for is coming around the corner right now."

Having been presaged by a rattle and creak, a coach did indeed come into Sokka's view, his fortune giving him cause to smirk. It was a Company cab identical to the ones from earlier, down to the dull green paintjob and number stenciled on the side. Toph raised a hand, thinking they were to hail it, but Sokka grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the building's alley, running until they were completely out of sight of the street.

"Can you still feel where the carriage is?" he asked, peeking out and spying it as it passed. "We need to follow it without being seen. Think you're up to that?"

Toph pointed to her own face. "Heh. I could do it with my eyes closed." To demonstrate, she did this, cracked her toes in the dirt and pointed straight through a building at where she knew the carriage to be situated. "These feet don't lie."

"Well then," said Sokka, beginning to stalk through the alley and smirking still more fiercely, "I guess the game is afoot."

"I hate you."

They moved in short sprints across empty streets, while stalking slowly through the labyrinth of passages between buildings. Only when the line of sight between themselves and their quarry was obscured did they dare to enter the open, but even then Sokka always snuck a cautious look ahead.

"So you do think the night shift is up to something," whispered Toph. "I knew it."

Not bothering to confirm her speculation, Sokka looked about them, seemingly trying to find his bearings. "Which way is it turning?"

Although she didn't like being ignored, his assistant pointed.

"Hm. That's more inward turns than outward. But we'll be reaching the wall, soon, so…" Sokka trailed off as he resumed dashing parallel to the cab, Toph jogging along in his wake. "Yes. Yeah, I see it now. We're lucky; this is definitely one of the ones we're looking for. It's headed for the southern gate."

After only a few minutes, each of them detected the cab rolling though the archway out of the city, and Sokka held up his hand, counting under his breath. When he was satisfied that enough time had passed, he calmly strode into the street and started walking towards the gate himself. Toph followed.

"It's guarded," he noted, "But since this gate is already inside the city limits it's just one soldier watching us. Only the outer siege door is locked, and I don't think they'll be going that far…" at first he talked as though only to himself, but he spoke to Toph when the time came for instructions. "We're going to walk way behind it so that we don't get noticed, but if it turns off the road or something while there's no good view, I want you to tell me, okay?"

"No problem, I guess. But why is it coming out here? It can't be for a fare. There's nothing but farms past the gate."

"Exactly. Don't worry, I think the whole thing's going to become obvious in just a short while. Right here, I can see it turning off onto a field. Get down, we're going to have to duck out of sight. I can tell you what happens."

The pair of them crouch-walked through the corner of a wheat field until they had reached the edge of a tilled one; Sokka got on his belly and Toph knelt, keeping a hand on the earth as lookout. "It's getting farther off. I can't make it out. What's the deal?"

"There's a shed not too far from the farmhouse. The doors are already open, and there's candlelight inside. They're expected." Amusement was in his voice. "I've gotta admit, this is an excellent plan."

"Yours or theirs?"

"They both have their good points. But even though theirs is criminal, it's probably better. Not original, but effective." Sokka rested his chin in his hands. His voice made it sound like he was thoroughly entertained. "It'll probably be a few minutes."

Toph tried, but didn't think she could puzzle it out. So a night shift driver had taken a cab outside of the city center, and to a farm. Now he'd taken it into a shed. What was happening in there that would make the vehicle break down on the day shift drivers? Were they stealing parts from it? No, because the breakdowns hadn't been overt sabotage. Was there something inside being sold? That didn't account for the failures either. What did Sokka know that she didn't?

"Okay, Toph, we're going to start walking back towards the city now."

"What? I thought this was surveillance?"

"It is, and I just spied our ride back. Come on. It'll be perfect."

They began the trek, but it was barely a minute before the familiar noise of an ostrich-horse came from behind them; Sokka waved an arm and called out. The carriage stopped next to them. "Where to?"

"The Baking Quarter," Sokka said gleefully. "We'll just sit in the back here, my friend's tuckered out."

The carriage groaned when they got on, even though it was designed to carry several people at once. After they got underway, Sokka edged closer to his friend, leaning over to whisper in her ear. "Notice anything, Toph?"

"The ride is kind of bouncy. The carriage feels old. Plus it's slow – the driver's going easy on it."

"What else?"

It wasn't easy, but by focusing on one thing at a time, she found another item out of place. "There's rust," she whispered back. "Just a little, on the metal plate back here under our feet. I've never felt that on one of these rides before. And it feels like it's been brushed recently, really hard."

"Right. I'll spot you one, too, that you wouldn't know about; the number seven on the side is fresh-painted. It's the same number as we saw going out of the city but…"

Toph punched her own palm. "It's not the same carriage!" For a second she was concerned that the driver had heard, but he continued pulling on the reins placidly. "So that means-"

"Yeah. The real carriage seven is back in that barn, probably being painted some other color already so it can be taken out of town without attracting suspicion. This, what we're in right now, has got to be an old personal carriage they cleaned off and painted. The drivers have been taking them out there under cover of darkness and swapping them, then going easy on them so they break down only during the day. The Company pays for them, the drivers collect a commission and nobody's the wiser."

"Of course – it's an old model, and lots of people use them. If they paint them in advance with the Company colors all they need to do is add the number. And the daytime drivers never notice because they switch carriages all the time."

"The case is solved, Toph," said Sokka with a chuckle. "The theory wasn't hard to come up with. I mean, if a carriage is breaking down because it seems old, then it probably is old, right? The rest was only finding out where and how they made the swap. Hey, there's another coming down the road in the other direction from us – they probably keep switching them out one at a time all night long. In the morning we'll let the Trade Society guys know about it. I think they'll want to be the ones to tell management themselves."

--

Indeed, the young fellows were quite pleased for the opportunity – and even more pleased when a fast investigation by the City Police found that almost half of the nighttime drivers of the Ba Sing Se Coach Company had been seen driving their coaches out the southern gate regularly for the past month. To their vacated positions, several of the day drivers who had recently lost their jobs were appointed, although all on probation for their behavior during the incidents. After crowding the street again to gather up and voice their thanks, Sokka further cut back their fee, though with the caveat that their Trade Association would need to supply him with free rides from time to time on business-related matters. They agreed, and their scrawny leader was just in the process of patting him on the back and offering him a position as an honorary coachman, complete with hat, when the bell on the stairs rang. It was scarcely five seconds before Sokka's recently-fixed door was flung open harshly, and his sister Katara stormed in, hands clenching and unclenching like she wished she were strangling something.

The driver beat a hasty (though still courteous) retreat. Sokka tried to think what could land him in such hot water – hopefully the metaphorical kind. "Uh, hi, Katara!"

"No 'uh hi Katara!'" she yelled, pounding a hand onto his desk. "What is it you think you're doing here?!"

"Solving… crimes?"

Even though she was younger than Sokka, he still had a healthy respect for Katara's temper, and for as often as Toph had called her 'Sugar Queen' she knew that this waterbending master was nobody to get mad. "He's just helping people."

"That's the problem!" she announced, as though her meaning were already obvious. Sokka's visible lack of comprehension cued her to expound a bit. "Solving crimes. Helping people. Does that sound like the job of anybody else you know?"

Sokka tried to reach back into his brain's darkest corners for an answer. "Um… Wolfbatman?"

"This isn't a picture-story, Sokka! It's real life, and in real life the police are supposed to do this kind of thing. Do you even know how hard Aang and I worked to reform the Dai Li once we got here? To make sure they weren't corrupt, or abusing their power like they used to? People are just starting to trust the authorities here again, and you shouldn't stand in the way of the law."

"Katara," he said with a knitted brow, "I don't think you're being fair."

"Fair?" she gave him a withering look, one with some pity thrown in like she felt he was just misunderstanding the situation. "Is it fair to charge people for something the police are supposed to do for free?"

"I barely charge them," he returned, "and those law enforcement types can't do everything they're supposed to. They can't be everywhere, can they?"

Katara raised her chin. "They can try!"

"Sorry," he said with seriousness he rarely displayed, "But that sounds a lot like another police state."

Although she wasn't the type to admit defeat based on a single, opinion-driven statement, this was enough to give Katara pause. She needed a second before she could shake it off, and then threw up her hands, turning away. "I can't get through to you. But I mean it, I want you to give up this detective thing or start working with the city government. Maybe Toph can talk some sense into you; she's from the Earth Kingdom."

Toph only shrugged towards Katara's hopeful look. "The only earth I owe anything to is what's under my feet. Sorry, I'm not gonna try to tell him what to do. The whole reason I'm here is basically because I'm tired of doing what my family wants. We've all gotta find our own path."

"Well if you – either of you – set one foot off of the real, legal path…" Katara opened the door to go, "… then I'm going to get you shut down. I'm sorry. I hope next time I visit it's under better circumstances."

They listened to her go, and only after she was completely out of earshot did Toph say "You know, she can be really mean sometimes."

"She's not mean," Sokka breathed, "She just… likes it when people see things her way. I think, without using those exact words, she just said she was worried about us."

"I getcha." Toph nodded sagely. It was just like Katara to be so concerned she upset herself. "So your plan to show her we're doing something good is… what? To solve mysteries and get useless favors instead of money?"

"Useless?" Sokka picked up the leather cap that was the trophy of his latest adventure. It was a short-billed eight-panel hat, the sturdy kind with the wooden band inside that was the fashion these days among working boys. "I hardly think so. You know what we've accomplished. Think about it."

She did. Sokka had accepted free travel as payment from this client. From the last ones, free tea. There was some idea behind that. "You expect to use these favors to solve other cases, don't you? And that'll lead to more favors, which'll help you solve more cases…"

"Knew you'd figure it out. Here, have a reward." With a practiced flick of his wrist Sokka tossed the cap at her such that it landed on top of her head; Toph reached up to pull it off, but found that it was a size that fit snugly over her hair bun. She fixed it into place with the front tilted up, since shading her eyes was of no concern. "See, this detective thing is fun. But more than that, you might've noticed how it helps my mood. So I've decided I might as well be good at it. The best, if possible."

"So what?" Toph asked, raising one eyebrow and swinging her feet up into her seat. "You're going to get serious on me or something?"

"Well, I'll put it to you like this," Sokka said, pouring a bit of fresh sudsy water into his pipe, "I've played Pai Sho with a friend of ours a few times, and he's taught me it's the big matches, the ones played on giant thousand-square boards that are the most rewarding. Sure you could just run through a ten-square match for fun, but it's the long game, the one with approaches and strategizing that turns out to be the most enjoyable. Even if you don't plan on winning every step of the way."

She circled her finger in the air. "That's going to be your new game? You versus this whole city?"

"Us versus mystery, Toph." He happily clenched the pipe between his teeth and put his own feet up on his desk. "When you get right down to it, that's the only game there is."

--

Written by Gunwild  
Created by Bryan Konietzko & Michael Dante DiMartino  
This fanfiction not produced for profit  
Avatar: The Last Airbender and related indicia are the property of Nickelodeon


End file.
